How bad ass are we?

Thanks to the new Firefox, I now know that bad ass is two words.

The question, though, is how bad ass are we? I am referring, of course, to the new Portland Trail Blazers. Oregon’s only professional sports franchise is set up for a historic decade with the addition of Greg Oden to the team. Greg Oden is not only a monster in the paint, he is also a nineteen year old child who has brought charisma to the once hapless Blazers. I think I saw it somewhere a long time ago, the iconic image of the beloved Lithuanian, Arvydas Sabonis being assaulted with a towel by current Piston bad boy Rasheed Wallace. According to current coach, Nate McMillan, we were the laughing stock of the entire league two years ago. When was humiliated with the towel on national television, all of us were humiliated. Our city looked like it was filled with jackasses carrying around towels meant to throw at centers who gave their heart and soul for what seemed like a cold and ruthless team. Ever read about Bill Walton’s last season with the Blazers? The poor bastard had to call himself a timeout and leave to the locker room to find that he had been playing on a broken foot. So what happens now, thirty years later? We’re so bad ass that once the league knew we had the number one pick, we were getting offers with sentences that mixed the words “hall of famer” and “trade”. Why this sudden change of pace? What caused this team to embark on this momentous journey? Nate McMillan has an idea. At the rally which introduced 7 feet tall Greg Oden to the city of Portland, Mr. McMillan had only one thing to say: “God works in mysterious ways.” I laughed, because it seemed like it took a ping pong ball to bounce a certain way for the Number One pick to land in Portland’s favor. Greg Oden is here. LaMarcus Aldridge is here. Brandon Roy is here. Steve Blake is here. Channing Frye is here. We’ve assembled a young team that is determined to play together and play hard and get this city to a championship again.

I spent eighteen dollars on a book written by Matt Love called “Red Hot and Rollin”: A retrospective on the the Blazers championship season thirty years ago. It is fitting that the most incredible season in Blazers history happened thirty years to the year the Blazers embark on what could be the greatest era ever.

We’re pretty damn bad ass.

There, I did it. That’s my Blazers post.